Today will be the final day of the wonderful Clarice Smith Institute at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where I have spent all day every day for the past week. I hate to see it end since the experience has been so rewarding, so challenging, and so fun. That said, I am exhausted! I need some rest before school starts in a week.

I have learned much. Obviously, I have picked up information about American Art. I have learned how to look at a Art differently, to the point that I now have a growing interest in more contemporary Art that used to leave me cold. I think it is always good for a teacher to be reacquainted with grasping some concept they have avoided. Our students do it all the time!

I have learned that Art can be used in myriad ways– in and out of the classroom. The emphasis here has been on linking Art with reading, but I so see connections with writing — multiple connections that I hope to start using in my classroom this Fall. And my belief that Art and Literature of any period are linked inextricably has bee supported. That will also find a home in my curriculum.

I saw once again the rising importance of technology. Perhaps not even rising but here. One particular benefit of technology comes with access to the Art I want to use. I can bring my students to SAAM any time now. All we have to do is log on.

And once again, I have been shown, as with the NWP, that my profession is in good hands. I have been spending the week with an amazing bunch of educators, people who care deeply about their students, their schools, their communities, and their discipline. Where are the legislators and news media this week? Why aren’t all the teachers like the thirty plus here being touted for all they do for our collective future?

So I am off for the final day and the final presentation, where I have to live up to the standards set by my colleagues here and at home, where I have to show the amazing instructors I have had here at SAAM that I honestly learned far more than this final presentation will show.

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